The Lancaster, Manchester, Sheffield Consortium for Fundamental Physics: Particle Physics from colliders to the Universe
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Particle physics is all about understanding the elementary building blocks of nature and their interactions. Over the years, physicists have developed the Standard Model of particle physics, which is extremely successful in describing a very wide range of natural phenomena from things as basic as how light works and why atoms form through to the complicated workings inside stars and the synthesis of nuclei in the first few minutes after the Big Bang. However, we know that the Standard Model is not the whole story for it leaves many questions unanswered. Our proposal focuses on these unanswered questions and the way that scientists are addressing them using experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) or observations like those made using the Planck satellite.
The discovery at the LHC of a Higgs boson was a major milestone in our quest to understand the origin of mass. It was certainly not, however, the whole story and the LHC experiments are continually improving their measurements of its properties to understand whether it is really the expected Higgs boson or a messenger of new physics. During the current shut-down for upgrade of the LHC, they are still searching for evidence of new particles in their data. One of the most promising possibilities is that the LHC will discover the particle(s) responsible for the Dark Matter that makes up a large fraction of the known material in the Universe. The scientists in our consortium study theories of dark matter, using data from the LHC, dedicated dark matter searches, and astrophysical observations. Any new physics produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other, a very complicated environment, usually in association with "jets" of other particles. Members of our consortium will explore how we can make use of these jets to learn more about the associated new physics: the better we understand the environment in which new physics occurs, the more we are able to learn about the new physics itself. This is a complicated business that often necessitates computer simulations of particle collisions. Our members are experts in these simulations and are making theoretical advances that will underpin improvements in their accuracy, which is essential if we are to make the most of the exciting data from the LHC.
The Standard Model of particle physics is also insufficient when it comes to explaining the early history of the Universe, when it was hot and dense. The evidence is now very strong that the history began with an era of accelerating expansion, called inflation. We are experts on inflation and its consequences. Inflation causes tiny quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, which ultimately grew to become observable effects. One effect is the formation of the billions of galaxies that populate the night sky. Another is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We have been at the forefront of interpreting the Planck data's clues about the precise form of the inflationary theory. There is also overwhelming evidence that the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating. Our scientists are working on particle physics explanations of this expansion, known as Dark Energy theories, and the interplay between them and Dark Matter theories.
The evolution of the Universe itself is governed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This theory also predicts extreme regions in which space is so curved that not even light can escape - black holes (BH). Our scientists are studying the conditions under which BHs are stable, how they affect the interactions of particles around them, including hypothetical extremely light particles called axions, and whether BH solutions are related to the "arrow of time".
The discovery at the LHC of a Higgs boson was a major milestone in our quest to understand the origin of mass. It was certainly not, however, the whole story and the LHC experiments are continually improving their measurements of its properties to understand whether it is really the expected Higgs boson or a messenger of new physics. During the current shut-down for upgrade of the LHC, they are still searching for evidence of new particles in their data. One of the most promising possibilities is that the LHC will discover the particle(s) responsible for the Dark Matter that makes up a large fraction of the known material in the Universe. The scientists in our consortium study theories of dark matter, using data from the LHC, dedicated dark matter searches, and astrophysical observations. Any new physics produced at the LHC will be produced as a result of smashing two protons into each other, a very complicated environment, usually in association with "jets" of other particles. Members of our consortium will explore how we can make use of these jets to learn more about the associated new physics: the better we understand the environment in which new physics occurs, the more we are able to learn about the new physics itself. This is a complicated business that often necessitates computer simulations of particle collisions. Our members are experts in these simulations and are making theoretical advances that will underpin improvements in their accuracy, which is essential if we are to make the most of the exciting data from the LHC.
The Standard Model of particle physics is also insufficient when it comes to explaining the early history of the Universe, when it was hot and dense. The evidence is now very strong that the history began with an era of accelerating expansion, called inflation. We are experts on inflation and its consequences. Inflation causes tiny quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, which ultimately grew to become observable effects. One effect is the formation of the billions of galaxies that populate the night sky. Another is to leave a tiny imprint on the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), a faint hum of radiation in which the Universe is bathed. The CMB has been studied in exquisite detail by the Planck satellite. We have been at the forefront of interpreting the Planck data's clues about the precise form of the inflationary theory. There is also overwhelming evidence that the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating. Our scientists are working on particle physics explanations of this expansion, known as Dark Energy theories, and the interplay between them and Dark Matter theories.
The evolution of the Universe itself is governed by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This theory also predicts extreme regions in which space is so curved that not even light can escape - black holes (BH). Our scientists are studying the conditions under which BHs are stable, how they affect the interactions of particles around them, including hypothetical extremely light particles called axions, and whether BH solutions are related to the "arrow of time".
Planned Impact
See the attached "Pathways to Impact" document for details.
This project has impact beyond the international scientific community mainly through the training of highly skilled graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and through extensive "outreach" activities of various kinds aimed at engaging directly with the general public, school children, teachers, policy makers and the media. Undergraduate teaching is also impacted beneficially by our research.
This project has impact beyond the international scientific community mainly through the training of highly skilled graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and through extensive "outreach" activities of various kinds aimed at engaging directly with the general public, school children, teachers, policy makers and the media. Undergraduate teaching is also impacted beneficially by our research.
Organisations
Publications
Davies J
(2024)
$$ \overline{B}\to \overline{D}D $$ decays and the extraction of fd/fu at hadron colliders
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Schacht S
(2022)
A $U$-Spin Anomaly in Charm CP Violation
Yuejia Zhai
(2023)
A consistent view of interacting dark energy from multiple CMB probes
Yuejia Zhai
(2023)
A consistent view of interacting dark energy from multiple CMB probes
Zhai Y
(2023)
A consistent view of interacting dark energy from multiple CMB probes
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Battye R
(2022)
A detailed study of the stability of vortons
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Pathak A
(2022)
A new form of QCD coherence for multiple soft emissions using Glauber-SCET
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Dickinson R
(2024)
A new study of the Unruh effect
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Dery A
(2023)
A precision relation between G(K ? µ+µ-)(t) and $$ \mathcal{B}\left({K}_L\to {\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}\right)/\mathcal{B}\left({K}_L\to \gamma \gamma \right) $$
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Bothmann E
(2023)
A standard convention for particle-level Monte Carlo event-variation weights
in SciPost Physics Core
Schacht S
(2023)
A U-spin anomaly in charm CP violation
in Journal of High Energy Physics
De Paula M
(2024)
Absorption and unbounded superradiance in a static regular black hole spacetime
in Physical Review D
De Angelis M
(2023)
Adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations in extended theories with kinetic couplings
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Tjemsland J
(2024)
Adiabatic axion-photon mixing near neutron stars
in Physical Review D
Tjemsland J
(2023)
Adiabatic Axion-Photon Mixing Near Neutron Stars
German E
(2024)
Adiabatic inspirals under electromagnetic radiation reaction on Kerr spacetime
in Physical Review D
Seymour M
(2024)
An algorithm to parallelise parton showers on a GPU
in SciPost Physics Codebases
Seymour M
(2024)
An Algorithm to Parallelise Parton Showers on a GPU
Bhura U
(2024)
Axion signals from neutron star populations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
McDonald J
(2023)
Axion-photon conversion in 3D media and astrophysical plasmas
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
McDonald J
(2024)
Axion-photon mixing in 3D: classical equations and geometric optics
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Bachu B
(2021)
Boosted top quarks in the peak region with N L 3 L resummation
in Physical Review D
Campbell M
(2024)
Bouncing cosmologies in the presence of a Dirac-Born-Infeld field
in Physical Review D
Konewko S
(2024)
Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes
in The European Physical Journal C
Konewko S
(2023)
Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes
Law K
(2022)
Charged and C P -violating kink solutions in the two-Higgs-doublet model
in Physical Review D
Smith A
(2024)
CMB implications of multi-field axio-dilaton cosmology
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Seymour M
(2024)
Codebase release 1.1 for GAPS
in SciPost Physics Codebases
Van Beekveld M
(2024)
Codebase release r0.1 for PanScales
in SciPost Physics Codebases
Brax P
(2022)
Cointeracting dark matter and conformally coupled light scalars
in Physical Review D
Alonso I
(2022)
Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map
in EPJ Quantum Technology
Van Beekveld M
(2024)
Collinear fragmentation at NNLL: generating functionals, groomed correlators and angularities
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Pace F
(2021)
Comparison of different approaches to the quasi-static approximation in Horndeski models
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Thomas C
(2023)
Constraints on late time violations of the equivalence principle in the dark sector
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Hoffmann J
(2024)
Continuation of Bianchi spacetimes through the big bang
in Physical Review D
Hadj M
(2022)
Conversion of electromagnetic and gravitational waves by a charged black hole
in Physical Review D
Srinivasan S
(2021)
Cosmological gravity on all scales. Part II. Model independent modified gravity N-body simulations
in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Di Valentino E
(2021)
Cosmology intertwined III: f s 8 and S 8
in Astroparticle Physics
Abdalla E
(2022)
Cosmology intertwined: A review of the particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology associated with the cosmological tensions and anomalies
in Journal of High Energy Astrophysics
Forshaw J
(2021)
Coulomb gluons will generally destroy coherence
in Journal of High Energy Physics
Batell B
(2021)
Detecting dark matter with far-forward emulsion and liquid argon detectors at the LHC
in Physical Review D
Gavrilova M
(2024)
Determination of the D ? p p ratio of penguin over tree diagrams
in Physical Review D
Pilaftsis A
(2025)
Dirac algebra formalism for Two Higgs Doublet Models: The one-loop effective potential
in Physics Letters B
| Title | Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes |
| Description | Data for the figures in the paper "Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes", arXiv:2301.01169 [hep-th] |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Charge_superradiance_on_charged_BTZ_black_holes/23717859/2 |
| Title | Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes |
| Description | Data for the figures in the paper "Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes", arXiv:2301.01169 [hep-th] |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Charge_superradiance_on_charged_BTZ_black_holes/23717859/1 |
| Title | Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes |
| Description | Data for the figures in the paper "Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes", arXiv:2301.01169 [hep-th] |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://figshare.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Charge_superradiance_on_charged_BTZ_black_holes/2371785... |
| Title | Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes |
| Description | Data for the figures in the paper "Charge superradiance on charged BTZ black holes", arXiv:2301.01169 [hep-th] We study superradiance for a charged scalar field subject to Robin (mixed) boundary conditions on a charged BTZ black hole background. Scalar field modes having a real frequency do not exhibit superradiance, independent of the boundary conditions applied. For scalar field modes with a complex frequency, irrespective of the boundary conditions, no charge superradiance occurs if the black hole is static. We demonstrate the existence of superradiant modes with complex frequencies for a charged and rotating BTZ black hole. Most of the superradiant modes we find satisfy Robin (mixed) boundary conditions, but there are also superradiant modes with complex frequencies satisfying Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. We explore the effect of the black hole and scalar field charge on the outgoing energy flux of these superradiant modes. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Charge_superradiance_on_charged_BTZ_black_holes/23717859/3 |
| Title | NSC++: Non-standard cosmologies in C++ |
| Description | We introduce NSC++, a header-only C++ library that simulates the evolution of the plasma and a decaying fluid in the early Universe. NSC++ can be used in C++ programs or called directly from python scripts without significant overhead. There is no special installation process or external dependencies. Furthermore, there are example programs that can be modified to handle several cases. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/yn883k4wsr/1 |
| Title | NSC++: Non-standard cosmologies in C++ |
| Description | We introduce NSC++, a header-only C++ library that simulates the evolution of the plasma and a decaying fluid in the early Universe. NSC++ can be used in C++ programs or called directly from python scripts without significant overhead. There is no special installation process or external dependencies. Furthermore, there are example programs that can be modified to handle several cases. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/yn883k4wsr |
| Title | Renormalized stress-energy tensor on global anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions |
| Description | Data for Figures 2-7 from the paper "Renormalized stress-energy tensor on global anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions", arXiv:2308.05623 [hep-th] |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Renormalized_stress-energy_tensor_on_global_anti-de_Sitter_... |
| Title | Renormalized stress-energy tensor on global anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions |
| Description | Data for Figures 2-7 from the paper "Renormalized stress-energy tensor on global anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions", arXiv:2308.05623 [hep-th] |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Renormalized_stress-energy_tensor_on_global_anti-de_Sitter_... |
| Title | Vacuum polarization on three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions |
| Description | Data for Figures 6, 7 and 8 from the paper "Vacuum polarization on three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions", arXiv:2209.01133 [hep-th]. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://figshare.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Vacuum_polarization_on_three-dimensional_anti-de_Sitter... |
| Title | Vacuum polarization on three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions |
| Description | Data for Figures 6, 7 and 8 from the paper "Vacuum polarization on three-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time with Robin boundary conditions", arXiv:2209.01133 [hep-th]. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://figshare.shef.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Vacuum_polarization_on_three-dimensional_anti-de_Sitter... |